Cars are whizzing by fast. I don't know how much longer I can stand it.
“Just stay where you are,” a familiar voice says on the other end of the phone; Jackie.
I mumble something, but I don't remember telling myself to speak.
“What, Leslie, can you hear me? Stay. Where. You. Are.” She says it slowly, the words make little sense but I try my best.
A few minutes (or was it hours, maybe seconds) later Jackie's car jumped up on the shoulder of the highway and stopped next to me. Astrid got out of the back and led me to the car, gently setting me inside.
“What's the matter with you!” Jackie yells.
“Leslie, really?” her sister in the front passenger's seat drawls.
Only one person in the car wasn't yelling at me.
Astrid sat next to me in the back seat looking out the window. The reflection showed the shame on her face.
“I was- You see- It's just-” I tried but failed to form a coherent sentence. Everything began to spin, I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head.
“Oh crap,” Jackie said as she sped up toward the hospital.
I woke up with an IV in my hand and a sick feeling in my stomach.
A slim figured was slumped in the corner of the room. I sat up to get a better look, immediately regretting the decision.
I leaned over the bed and hurled up stomach acid.
“Huh,” the figured jumped and Astrid looked up at me. “Oh your awake.” She looked down at the vomit, “I'll go get a nurse.”
She walked out of the room. She didn't look me in the eyes before she left, but she did glance back as the door swung closed. I revelled in that moment before all hell broke loose.
My mother followed the nurse in, right on her tail, “What's the mtter with you? You know better than that! I thought I told you...” I tuned her out, not wishing to hear her accusations and judgments.
She didn't understand what had happened.
She had no idea what was going on...
“Just stay where you are,” a familiar voice says on the other end of the phone; Jackie.
I mumble something, but I don't remember telling myself to speak.
“What, Leslie, can you hear me? Stay. Where. You. Are.” She says it slowly, the words make little sense but I try my best.
A few minutes (or was it hours, maybe seconds) later Jackie's car jumped up on the shoulder of the highway and stopped next to me. Astrid got out of the back and led me to the car, gently setting me inside.
“What's the matter with you!” Jackie yells.
“Leslie, really?” her sister in the front passenger's seat drawls.
Only one person in the car wasn't yelling at me.
Astrid sat next to me in the back seat looking out the window. The reflection showed the shame on her face.
“I was- You see- It's just-” I tried but failed to form a coherent sentence. Everything began to spin, I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head.
“Oh crap,” Jackie said as she sped up toward the hospital.
I woke up with an IV in my hand and a sick feeling in my stomach.
A slim figured was slumped in the corner of the room. I sat up to get a better look, immediately regretting the decision.
I leaned over the bed and hurled up stomach acid.
“Huh,” the figured jumped and Astrid looked up at me. “Oh your awake.” She looked down at the vomit, “I'll go get a nurse.”
She walked out of the room. She didn't look me in the eyes before she left, but she did glance back as the door swung closed. I revelled in that moment before all hell broke loose.
My mother followed the nurse in, right on her tail, “What's the mtter with you? You know better than that! I thought I told you...” I tuned her out, not wishing to hear her accusations and judgments.
She didn't understand what had happened.
She had no idea what was going on...
